


Step In

by GStK



Series: Something Different [2]
Category: Hyouka & Kotenbu Series
Genre: Aromanticism, F/M, Multi, One-Sided Relationship, Other, Poly QPs, Polyamory, Queerplatonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-18
Updated: 2014-06-18
Packaged: 2018-02-05 03:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1803235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GStK/pseuds/GStK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's easier than it should be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Step In

Oreki Houtarou. As soon as she meets him, she decides she doesn't like him. He is strange in the way that inspires awkward silences and furtive glances, up until people forget about him entirely. She would too, if she could, but he's too close to Fuku-chan, too quick to bump shoulders with her to be that easy to forget.

It's strange how he's average, but not.

* * *

Fukube Satoshi. As soon as she meets him, she can't decide what to think. He is not like other boys. He does not fawn over how cute she is, and he does not pretend to hang off of her every word. He smiles at her like he does every other girl, and when he jokes with her, needling, it's not anything special.

It's not strange how she falls for him, but how she stays in love.

* * *

High school doesn't change her much, and neither does Oreki, not really. He's lazy and stoic and everything he usually is, and in the face of everything else high school brings, she finds a weird comfort in that.

Then comes the Classics Club, Chii-chan, and of all the things, Oreki starts to change. He applies himself, starts using that brain of his, and her caustic remarks do nothing. It makes her feel restless.

* * *

Fuku-chan is very much a man of reaction, but not in the way you'd think. He changes based on whims and week-old remarks, and in the end, there is nothing she can do. There are times when she's scared to say anything at all, because what she fears is him pulling away yet again.

High school doesn't change Satoshi, not really, because he's never stopped changing to begin with.

* * *

Being the only two girls in the Classics Club gives them some common ground, but she finds herself liking Chii-chan for more important things. She's polite, she's enthusiastic, she's helpful... there's nothing about her to dislike.

"He said no!?" she exclaims, shock and anger quick to well up in her. She can accept the fact that Oreki isn't normal, but it seemed obvious that he'd accept, ever since Eru had told her her plans those few weeks ago. Chii-chan is such a good person that it doesn't make _sense_.

In the face of her offence, all her friend does is smile.

"It's alright," Chii-chan assures her, and when Mayaka looks conflicted, she continues. "Oreki-san wasn't mean about it at all. I didn't even expect him to say yes. It's just..." She trails off.

"Just what?" Mayaka prompts, not unkindly.

"I thought there might have been someone else, but..." Chii-chan brings her hands together thoughtfully. "When he said no, it seemed like he wasn't just saying no to _me_."

There's a mystery if there ever was one. Mayaka frowns at the other girl, perplexed, before she scoffs. "That's because Oreki is weird! You're too nice to notice, Chii-chan, but he's always been like that. Don't worry about it, okay? He doesn't deserve you!"

Her friend nods in vague agreement, but her mind is elsewhere. Mayaka sighs sympathetically and looks out the window. Chii-chan is a wonderful person, and the way she so easily forgives is just one more thing that makes her amazing.

But does Oreki need to be forgiven?

She wonders.

* * *

Over time, Fuku-chan's rejections and evasive answers blend together into one blurry picture. She can't really remember the look on his face when he let her down, where his eyes looked when he answered her, or even what clothes he would wear each time. She's heard that rejections stay painfully crisp in a person's memory, but for her, that's never really been true.

What she remembers most are the hours she spent making him things, how she was 200 yen short one time (and how she despaired until Chii-chan helped her with the difference), and the knowing anxiety that crept up on her every time she was finished.

When Fuku-chan calls her that one particular night, his voice mingled with the static on the line, she focuses less on his words and more on how tight she grips the phone to her ear.

She'll remember this, too.

* * *

_He doesn't have anyone_ , she catches herself thinking, another day when it's just her and Oreki in the clubroom. She looks at him across the table, when he's too busy reading to catch her eye. He doesn't have anyone, and for some reason, she finds that sad.

"What," Oreki says, startling her. She's been staring too long.

"Nothing," she snaps, but not, because she can't find it in herself to get mad at him. If he notices, he doesn't say anything. The silence hangs on them for ages, and in a fit of discomfort, she blurts, "You can tell us anything, you know."

She looks down before she can see Oreki look up, and whatever reaction he has, it's wasted on her.

She stares at her lap for a long time before she finally hears him sigh and turn a new page in his book.

"-yeah, something like that."

She's wrong. He does have someone.

He has them.

* * *

"What?" Fuku-chan prods, and he laughs when she flinches. They are at a park after school, just like every couple their age, but she feels they are very much alone. He flexes his hand against hers, and her face feels hot. "Mayaka. I'm right here, you know?"

"I know!" she retorts indignantly, scowling up at him. His expression goes from amused to something else, something more uncertain, and he squints in that way he sometimes does. He's nervous, she realises, just like she is―and maybe more.

He laughs, again, weak, when she squeezes his hand. Her grip is firm.

"And I'm here, too."

* * *

In university, she sees Oreki a lot more than she used to. He and Fuku-chan room together, and so whenever she finds herself in their room, he's usually right there.

She gets comfortable with how comfortable him being there feels, and she bristles only when Fuku-chan pulls her into his side.

* * *

He doesn't like being comfortable. She figures that out early on. Something about relaxing with someone else, accepting that maybe things are okay for right now－ it doesn't sit right with him, and she knows.

But he looks at Oreki one time, and...

She's not so sure.

* * *

Calling him by his name isn't easy. For weeks, she flips between the two, a drifter who can't decide which side of the wall she wants to be on. _Houtarou_ is quick to fall from her lips when she's speaking to anyone, anyone else― but when he looks at her, she falters, and _Oreki_ is all she can manage.

" _Grr_! He moved them _again_!" She scatters the contents of Satoshi's desk with a groan of frustration. Satoshi is guarded with his own things, but he takes of others freely; it's been days since she's seen them.

"My pencils," she clarifies, when she sees Houtarou look up out of the corner of her eye. She sighs. "I'm guessing you don't know where they are either, Oreki?"

"Mayaka."

"Hmm?" she responds lazily. He doesn't answer, so she turns to him, annoyed. "What―"

"Mayaka."

The room feels too small and too wide, all at once. Five steps away, he has his eyes fixed on her, the same bored expression on his face that usually irritates her so. In one hand is his book; in the other, he has her pencil case.

It's a mile before she reaches him.

"... thanks," she says eventually, reaching out. She takes it from him, and when the case slips from his hands, his eyes slip back to his book. Something wells in her chest, and what comes next feels easy.

"Houtarou."

He leans a little further back, and she can't help but smile.

A hand helps her over the wall.

* * *

The first time she works up the courage to say it, he freezes. His shoulders go tense, and she knows that if she could see his face, he would look conflicted.

This is every step of their relationship: he's romantic, he's loving, but the second she reciprocates, he draws away and locks himself up behind a cagey smile.

But she is nothing if not stubborn.

" **Satoshi**! Are you even listening?"

* * *

Satoshi asks her too casually, too off-the-cuff, but it is exactly that that makes the question so serious. For a second, she can't breathe, and her posture is rigid. He looks at her askance, and he is not smiling.

Does she like him?

Does she like Houtarou.

At first, she is silent, because that's what she's been wondering herself. It's been too easy, lately, to smile at him, to tease him, to sit next to him and compare notes (and scold him for his laziness). It's been too easy to be with him, and the space in her heart where she kept her irritation for him is empty.

She looks at Satoshi, and he looks at her, and answering him is a little too easy, too.

"Of course!" she says, sticking her nose up haughtily. The catch in Satoshi's breath almost makes her smile. But she does not. "He's not as annoying as he used to be. I never thought I'd see the day, but Houtarou's actually _changed_."

Her boyfriend stares at her blankly, but after a moment, he smiles like he understands.

Because this, this is not love.

"It's weird, isn't it?" he agrees. "Houtarou's just as lazy as ever, but it's almost like he's matured. Not that that would ever happen, but!－"

"-I'm home," Houtarou announces pointedly, shutting the door behind him with a loud _click_. Satoshi doesn't even have the grace to look abashed, and with some surprise, she finds that neither does she.

This is not love.

But it's something like it, and she knows Satoshi feels it, too.

* * *

Fuku-chan never says it, but that's okay.

He smiles at her one night when they're about to part, shaky and honest and sweet, and it takes her breath away.

 _Oh_ , she thinks.

_So that's what love is._

* * *

"You guys would make a cute couple!" one of her friends says with a laugh, when she catches them brushing hands under the table at the library.

 _1-2-3-4-5-6_ goes Houtarou's heart, speeding up even when his face doesn't change. He snatches away his hand and keeps his eyes on his textbook, gaze steely.

"We're just friends!" Mayaka insists, frowning up at her friend. Just as quick, her face goes leery. "Kae-chan, should you really be talking about couples when you haven't even confessed to Maeda-kun yet?"

Maeda-kun is just one table over, close enough to hear. He looks up when his name is called, and Kae-chan immediately gets flustered, wandering off. It's a victory, and she smiles triumphantly.

When she looks Houtarou's way, he doesn't meet her eyes, but.

He seems calmer, somehow.

* * *

"Mayaka-san," Chii-chan starts, being as delicate as she can. "Are you and Fukube-san..." Something keeps her from finishing. Mayaka leans back in her chair, regarding her neutrally.

"Am I dating Fuku-chan?" she asks, and Chii-chan nods quietly. "-I guess so?" She looks off to the side, mulling the thought over. They've never announced it, never even made it official.

"Oh!" her friend replies, face glowing. She's missed Mayaka's hesitation entirely. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," she answers mildly, smiling a little when Chii-chan does. It's something she should celebrate, isn't it? After all these years, Fuku-chan is finally hers. It should be big.

It is big.

But what she feels is not excitement, but relief.

* * *

There's one morning where she skips class just to lay in bed with Houtarou, head on his shoulder and eyes intent on the book in his hands. They say nothing for hours, and he reads slow, giving her plenty of time to keep up. _1-2_ , _1-2_ , goes the beat of his heart.

Satoshi finds them like that when he gets back from his own class, and there is something rewarding in the slack-jawed surprise on his face.

"I can't believe this," he says, but the grin that he wears keeps him from sounding serious. He drops his bag near the door and heads straight for them. "Houtarou, you couldn't just be satisfied with being lazy yourself, huh? You had to go and make my girlfriend lazy, too! I can see now it's already too late for her. Mayaka, I knew you well..." He sighs dramatically and drops straight into bed, making them bounce. He slings his arms over them.

"You say that like you're not!" she accuses, and she laughs and tries to squirm away from his reach.

Houtarou just frowns at them both, hanging the book high above their heads. He grunts when Satoshi tugs at his arms, pulling the book down to glance at the cover. "You're both annoying, that's what you are."

"So cruel, Houtarou!" Satoshi replies, unaffected. Houtarou just sighs at him, and like that, they settle in.

It's normal.

* * *

"Fuku-chan," she says uncertainly, uncertain enough to make him look over at her. She drops her eyes to their connected hands. Chii-chan's question weighs heavy on her mind. "-what do we call this?"

"'This?'" he repeats, eyebrows raising. When he understands what she means, his expression goes bright. She almost thinks he's going to crack a joke, but

he doesn't.

"It's just us, isn't it?" He offers her a little shrug, and for some reason, that's what does it. "It doesn't have to be anything else."

"'Just us,'" she echoes quietly.

And for some reason, that's okay.

* * *

"Hey," Satoshi says, on a night when they're curled up and minutes from sleep. She looks over at him, and Houtarou hums sleepily in reply. "What do we call this?"

"-'this?'" Houtarou says, blearily opening his eyes. After a moment, he gives a little shrug, one that jostles the two people next to him. "Does it matter?"

"It's just us," she chimes in, her voice a touch more annoyed than Houtarou's. She shuts her eyes and pulls in closer. "Go to sleep, Satoshi."

He's silent for a long moment, and then he chuckles, the sound of giving in. "Okay."

It's just them, and that's it.


End file.
